On Sunday at noon, Borussia Dortmund's Under 23 side will play their third home match of the current third division season. Fourteenth-placed MSV Duisburg will be the opponents at the Rote Erde Stadium at 1300 CEST. After the draws against Mannheim and Saarbrucken, the first home win is the target this weekend.

On Sunday at midday, Borussia Dortmund's Under 23 side play their third home match of the current third division season. Fourteenth-placed MSV Duisburg will be the opponents at the Rote Erde Stadium at 1300 CEST. After the draws against Mannheim and Saarbrucken, the first home win is the target this weekend.

After the unfortunate 2-1 defeat at VfL Osnabrück during the week, preparation for this weekend's match began just one day later. For BVB centre-back Niklas Dams, there were nevertheless all sorts of positive things to take from the game against VfL: "It was very nice to play in front of so many fans once again. We needed a few moments to come to terms with it. Looking back, we actually did very well, implemented many of the things we had planned. We fell behind a bit unluckily, but still showed a good reaction," said the 31-year-old.

"When we equalised in the second half, we thought we could turn the game around. The red card caused a bit of confusion again. That played into Osnabrück's hands, so unfortunately, we couldn't keep the score at 1-1. Nevertheless, we played a good game. We can be very pleased with the way we approached the game."

MSV Duisburg have started the season with two wins and three defeats. Coach Pavel Dotchev's team experienced a bit of a personnel shake-up in the summer and also had to go into a Corona quarantine at the start of the season. The normal rhythm was gone early in the season. Since the summer, former BVB youth player Alaa Bakir has also been at MSV. The 20-year-old won an U17 and U19 championship with BVB and won promotion to the 3rd division with BVB Under 23s at the end of last season as Regionalliga West champions. In addition to Bakir, Oliver Steurer and Marvin Bakalorz also enjoyed a spell with BVB.

Niklas Dams expects a strong opponent on Sunday: "Duisburg has a team with a good mix of experience and talent. They convince with speed, but also with the composure that is important in this league. It's a mini-derby. It will be important for us to approach it that way again. We have to get into the game through challenges and then do what we do well. I'm confident that we have the chance to get the three points against Duisburg."

The suspended Lennard Maloney and the injured Florian Krebs, Moritz Broschinski and Marco Hober cannot help in the hunt for three points against Duisburg.